Communication channels include transmit/receive channels. One example of a communication channel is a read channel in a data storage system. While the present discussion can be applied to substantially any transmit/receive channel, it will be described in the context of a read channel used in a storage system, for the sake of example only.
Many computer systems currently use magnetic or optical storage media. There is also currently a large demand to increase storage space in order to accommodate the storage of extensive applications, operating systems, and other information that may be desired by a user. This has naturally led to a desire to increase the areal density of data storage systems, such as the magnetic or optical storage media. In fact, some designers of storage media have viewed the increase of areal density as a primary design consideration.
However, increasing bandwidth of any transmit/receive channel, including increasing areal density of storage media does present certain problems. For instance, architectures which can store more information often result in more complex storage systems which are more costly, and require more power. In addition, read channel architectures which are designed to read data from the higher density storage media have also been more complex, more costly, and often have increased power requirements.
Embodiments of the present system address these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.